New $20 bills with touch of peach color introduced

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The new $20 bill introduced Thursday gives Old Hickory a touch of color.

Politicians, government officials and school children gathered at the Hermitage -- President Andrew Jackson's plantation southeast of downtown Nashville -- for one of about 30 ceremonies nationwide to introduce the new color of money to the public.

"The new bills will be safer, smarter and more secure," said Annita Moore, assistant manager of the Nashville branch of the Federal Reserve. "We're staying ahead of the counterfeiters."

The background on the new $20 bill is green, peach and blue. It's the first and only bill to depart from the traditional green-and-black color scheme of all American paper currency.

The new bills will start appearing at banks in a few weeks; the old bills will be gradually withdrawn from circulation.

The image of Jackson, the nation's seventh president who was known as "Old Hickory", appears slightly larger because the border around his portrait has been removed. But his head is the same size on both the new and old bills.

The $20 is the most counterfeited bill domestically.

U.S. jobless claims hit lowest level since Feb. 8

WASHINGTON -- New claims for unemployment insurance fell last week to their lowest level in eight months, a sign that companies may be having a bit more faith in the staying power of the economic recovery and thus are easing the pace of layoffs.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that for the work week ending Oct. 4 new applications for jobless benefits dropped by a seasonally adjusted 23,000 to 382,000, the best showing since Feb. 8. That marked a better performance than analysts were forecasting. They were predicting claims would dip to 395,000 last week.

New claims hit a high this year of 459,000 in the middle of April. With claims last week dipping below 400,000, a level associated with a sluggish labor market. Economists noted the pace of firings may now be stabilizing.

Democratic rivals aim fire at newcomer Clark

PHOENIX -- Democratic presidential hopefuls focused fire on Wesley Clark in campaign debate Thursday night, deriding the retired general as a belated convert to their party -- and indecisive to boot.

"I did not vote for George Bush. I voted for Al Gore," Clark retorted in the most contentious of four debates to date in the battle for the Democratic nomination.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sens. John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and John Edwards took turns criticizing Clark, saying he was speaking warmly of Bush as recently as 2001, and more recently switched positions to oppose the war with Iraq.

Clark struck an above-the-fray pose at one point, insisting, "I'm not going to attack a fellow Democrat."

But even that drew a sharp response from his rivals, primed to attack the retired Army general who jumped to a lead in some national polls within days of his entry into the race in September.

-- From wire reports